This joint publication by FERA and FSE outlines the urgent need to reform the contractual conditions of screenwriters and directors across Europe in order to ensure fair, proportionate, and sustainable remuneration. Drawing on research, legal analysis, and income data, the report identifies four key problem areas undermining creators’ rights: lack of bargaining power, disproportionate remuneration structures, exploitative “buy-out” contracts, and weak contract enforcement. The report calls for a series of reforms including the introduction of an unwaivable right to equitable remuneration for online exploitation, guaranteed through collective management; the enforcement of transparent, proportional contracts; and a rebalancing of rights transfers to allow for creator reversion if works are unused. It also emphasizes the importance of allowing screenwriters’ and directors’ organizations to collectively negotiate minimum standards and enforce contracts that protect against unfair termination and ensure payment. Highlighting successful legal models in Germany and the Netherlands, the report provides a roadmap for EU-level policy reform and urges the European Commission and Parliament to act decisively. It concludes by affirming that Europe’s cultural richness depends on safeguarding the moral, legal, and economic rights of its creators—and that fair contracts are fundamental to sustaining creative freedom and innovation.

http://federationscreenwriters.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BetterContracts-FERA-FSE.pdf